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A greater variety of garments may have been worn by boys during the mid 19th century than any other period. The fact that readt-mafe clothing were ot yet widely available was a factor. And during mid-cebtury webegin tonsee growng afflunce from America's developing indystrial economy. This mean that the American people has increasing disposble income to aford fshionble clothes. And because of photography we hace a very detailed photographic record. We note a range of headwear. Rounded-crown hats were very popular. We note some skirted garments. Dresses were widely worn by little boys. Tunics never completely compleletly disappeard. We note a lot of boys wearig shirt-like tunics. at mid-cebtury. By the 1860s we see more nd mot boys wearing suit jackets. We see kilt suits appering in the 1860s. A few boys in the 1840s were still seen in skeleton suits. The new sailor suit and kilt styles from England slowly increased in popularity. The Mexican and Civil Wars introduced military styles. Long pants dominated in the 1840s, but knee pants began to appear by the mid-1860s. They were more of a fashionable style rhan a style widely worm by most boy. We see children wearing long stockings, both girls wearing dresses and boys wearing knee pants. Unlike Europe, we rarely see children, even younger children ith bare legs. We begin to see high-top-shoes in the 1860s. American boys' fashions as adult fashions were still strongly influenced by European fashion trends.
We note a wide variety of headweat, mostly caps and and hats being worn at mid-century. Yonger boys might wear Tam O'Shanters. Tassels for caps were popular. A good example is Thomas Hardwick about 1840. Note his tasseled Tam o'Shanter. Caps with military styling were very popular. Mexican War-era caps with tassles were popular in the 1840s and 50s, while Civil War-era caps were wotn in the 1860s. Sailor caps and hats were not widely worn, but did appear in the 1860s with inceasing frequency. We notice streamers on the hats.
Boys continued to wear dresses at mid-Century. Their dresses were little different than those worn by their sisters. The dresses might have low necklines, especially in the 1840s. A good example is an unidentified boy. I notice some boys wore skirts with blouses, I am not sure if this was a new style, or simply more observeable because of the rising number of photographic images. We notice a blue dress worn with a cit-away jacket by Harry Danniel about 1862. Boy dresses specifically styled for a boy were not yet available at mid-century. A good example is Thomas Hardwick about 1840.
Kilts were little seen in America. The style was introduced in England as a boy's
fashion by Queen Victoria in the 1840s. It was little seen in America during the 1840s and 50s, but did begin to make iroads during the 1860s. It was not the fulkl Highland kilt, however, with all the associated regalia that begun to be worn by American boys.
While kilts were still little worn even by the 1860s, some skirted outfits were worn. They were often worn with matching jackets. They were worn with a variety of garments friom pantalettes to matching long trousers. I am not sure
about the origins of this style. I have not noticed it during the early 19th Century, but this could be more of a relection of increasing number of available images as a result of photography. The skirt style has different possible origins. Some of the outfits have the look of tunic outfits. They may also be a reflection of the new kilt style for boys introduced in England. I am not sure at this time about the gender conotations of skirts. I do not know at this time whether skirts as opposed to dresses were widely worn by girls and women and whether there were social class or natiional differences. Nor do I know if there were differences between how young boys and girls were dressed in skirts. A good example is a Pennsylvania boy during the 1860s.
The popular tunic style declined in imoprtance during this period, but never completely disappeared. The longer tunics worn in the early 19th century gradually evolved into a kind of tunic jacket.
A lot of boys wote long shirts instras of jackets in the 1840s abd 50s. Boys tended to wear rather non-discript, plain suits with short jackets and long pants. The jackets appeared rather shapeless and were not generally well-tailored. They were often worn with pants that did not match, inclusing
checkered pants. While many boys did not wear jackets in the 1940s, we see more in the 50s, and they were uite common by the 1960s.
American boys might still wear quite large, in some cases ruffled collars during the 1830s. These collars decreased in size during the 1840s and became quite plain. Collars were generally small by the 1850s, although one occasionally sees fancer ones. White collars looking like Peter Pan collars, were common worn, but they were relatively
small in comparison to the huge collars worn in the late 19th Century. One also sees collars clearly influencd by the English Eton collars.
Shirts and blouses were not worn with large bows, although some boys
wore small bow-tie like neck wear or simple narrow ribbon bows. Older boys might wear stocks like their fathers.
Most boys in the 1840s wore long pants. Even as the skeleton suit
was going out of style, boys continued wearing long pants. Very young
bpys might wear tunics weith pantalettes, but most soon turned to long
pants. Kneepants began to appear in the 1860s, although long pants
were still much more common, even for younger boys. This had begun to change in Europe. French boys by the 1860s were commonly wearing knicker-like pants and this style by the late 1960s had begun to increasingly influence American boys' fashions.
Pantalettes were commonly worn by boys still wearing dresses,
but once they were breeched they were not normally worn. Pantalettes
were extremely fashionable in the 1840s, but began declining in importance
during the 1850s. We note Arthur Hamilton wearing plain pantalettes in 1869.
Our information on mid-19th century hosiery is very limited at this time. As best we can tell, children commonly wore socks in the 1840s, often three-quarter length socks. A good example is Thomas Hardwick about 1840. Boys in the 1q850s wore juvenile suits with bloomer knickers. Some of the hosiery seems long enough go be lonfg stockings raher than socks. Many photographs from the 1860s show boys wearing hosiery with kneepants, but the kneepants are usually so long that we are unsure about the type of hosiery.
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